So Elizabeth and I are sitting at the aeropuerto awaiting another LONG travel experience...Our flight departs from Santiago...lays over in Sao Paulo...lays over in Madrid...and finally we arrive in Portugal...The rest of our time in La Serena was great...We were spending so much time at Werner and Maria's that they invited us to stay in their guest room...It also had a full view of the ocean...and one of the most heavenly beds I have ever slept in...They have 3 kids...Nicko, Simone and Kahlina...They all speak English, Bulgarian and Spanish...(pretty smart...I never knew a 2, 4 and 6 year old [View Full Entry]

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Well the first week has been an interesting one. The orphanage has 40 kids in it and is very well run. They have 9 0-6 months old (the room I work in) , 9 7-18 months old upstairs and then 24 18 to 2 years old down stairs. The first day was hard cause I dont speak Spanish and they don´t speak English. There was a lot of pointing and sign language going on. We got by. I am beginning to understand Spanish more than I am able to speak it. The rest of the week I was more comfortable doing [View Full Entry]

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Greetings friends and fam, i know it has been so long since one of these, but as usual, i have been enjoying life, and not sitting in front of a computer to much. At the moment, I'm at my adopted chilean family's house, which is my friend syd's house. I spend a lot of time here! they invite me to have lunch with them, which is the most important meal of the day, and matti the mom makes special means just for me! I tried to make them a chocolate zuchinni cake once, but the zuchinni here is a different breed! [View Full Entry]

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After sitting on a bus for 23 hours (which was not enjoyable!!) we arrived in Santiago de Chile. It was nice to see trees and grass again after the jungle, mountains and desert scenery of the previous few weeks. Santiago is one of the most western cities in south america, and reminded us a lot of home. It was a novelty to see shops selling "normal" stuff! Sadly though they also sell it at "normal" prices. We spent a couple of days looking around Santiago and then got a bus up the coast to Valparaiso which is a world heritage site. [View Full Entry]

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Day 96: Friday 4th October - Sterile Santiago My bus leaves Valparaiso for Santiago at 10.40am, plenty of time to walk to the bus station - or so I think. After taking my time over breakfast, packing my bags and checking something out on the internet I end up leaving the hostel at 10.15am. Its a good mile and a half to walk and I end up hurrying along the main street with all my bags, making it with just a minute to spare. Need not have bothered rushing as the bus breaks down (or something is wrong with it) and [View Full Entry]

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So I have arrived safe and sound despite a long bumpy flight with no sleep. The hostel is nice, its located in a square called Plaza de Armas. I have related it to George square, it has important buildings around it, museums, Presidencial building around the corner and many people come to visit but if you one or blocks in one direction you are not in the best of areas. The first day I arrived I went on a walk to see the Cerro San Cristóbal, a religous statue of a women with her arms open wide. I was told the [View Full Entry]

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Hi all - Ian here. Fine flight over - LAN passed with flying colours. First surrise was the sight of the southern Andes as we hit the continent well south of Santiago, and had the good fortune to be on the right side of the plane. Magnificent, Rugged peaks and plenty of snow. Santiago seems to be a great place, and we had our first afternoon off, but Ted, our leader suggested we keep going, so we had a great walk around the city and topped it off with a chairlift ride to the highest close peak for a great vista [View Full Entry]

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Second day in Santiago. Formal tour based around the centre of the city with all of the govt buildings - and the presidential palace. A lot of activity in the centre square - including an attack on one of our fellow travellers as a guy wrenched a gold chain from around his neck! Nice place this. Mind you we had been warned not to wear jewellry. Most impressive of the old buildings was the 1749 Catholic Catherdral. A bit tired on the outside, the interior was magnificent. We had lunch at the local fish market, but in reality it was just [View Full Entry]

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I am entrusting you faithful blog watchers with a very important decision. 'The beard' has served its purpose of keeping me warm in cold climes and is now simply aesthetic. You are now in charge of whether it stays or goes. Please vote in the next 3 days by leaving a message with GROW or GO. You will not be charged for leaving a message and please note that no money is going to charity. P.S. Only comments about the beard please, not the hat. Matt x [View Full Entry]

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We are now in Santiago, Chile sadly leaving Buenos Aires after a fantastic week. We did indeed spend an enjoyable Saturday night in Pacha and met up with all the guys from Puerto Iguazu who are a great bunch. Unfortunately the fact that we only left the club at 6am kinda wrote off my Sunday, in fact Im very ashamed to say it but I never left the hostel all day, the fact that the torrential rain had returned and it was cold and dark didn´t help! Jon being much more lively than me bought me some takeout pizza and then [View Full Entry]

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